


What's your name?

by Holisticgay



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, idk what to tag this one with?, keith is just rlly gay, lance works at a food booth at the beach???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-18 19:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holisticgay/pseuds/Holisticgay
Summary: Keith doesn’t even like the beach! This is Shiro’s fault. He’s the one who forced Keith to go with him and Matt. Then forced him to go get some food for them. If he had known the most gorgeous boy he’s ever seen was working there, he would have picked another concession stand. He doesn’t care that the next closest stand to them had such a long line that it would have taken at least four times as long to get food.But of course, he didn’t know until it was his turn to order and the boy, this celestial being Keith could’ve sworn was fae, looked at him and smiled.





	1. Surprise me?

Keith don’t usually bother himself with obsessing over attractive people. He doesn’t think it’s worth it to fawn over others. No one’s ever really caught his eye beyond the thoughts of “oh their jacket looks really cool” or “I wonder where they got those boots”.  He’s never had trouble with wanting to impress someone, or dealt with the worry of embarrassing himself because it’s hard to stay composed around beautiful people. 

 

Except… and he hates himself for this… for when he meets the boy who works the stand at the beach by his house. The tall, beautiful, boy with eyes that are so blue all Keith can think of is stupid, cliche comparisons to the ocean roughly 20 meters away.. 

 

Keith doesn’t even  _ like  _ the beach! This is Shiro’s fault. He’s the one who forced Keith to go with him and Matt. Then forced him to go get some food for them. If he had known the most gorgeous boy he’s ever seen was working there, he would have picked another concession stand. He doesn’t care that the next closest stand to them had such a long line that it would have taken  _ at least _ four times as long to get food. 

 

But of course, he didn’t know until it was his turn to order and the boy, this celestial being Keith could’ve sworn was fae, looked at him and smiled. 

 

“Hello! What can I get’cha?” The boy had asked but it was already too late, Keith had taken one look into his eyes and lost all ability to form proper, unembarrassing thoughts.

 

“Uhh…” The boy’s smile widened and Keith tried his best to remember what he was there for. “F...food?” 

 

“Ha! Yeah, we have food. Any idea what you want specifically?” He laughed and Keith knew there was no way the boy didn’t notice how red his face had become. There was no way to blame it on the sun, as it had been as pale as usual when he had first walked up to the counter. 

 

“I, um… no?” Which was the truth, Shiro hadn’t actually told him what they wanted. He just shoved some money into Keith’s hands and shooed him away. 

 

“Well… Do you want suggestions or want me to just… surprise you?” The boy leaned his elbows on the counter, head propped up in one hand, still smiling at Keith like he  _ knew _ what was going through his head. Which, admittedly wasn’t much besides  _ pretty, pretty, blue, pretty, oh no, he has freckles, so pretty. _

 

“Sur...surprise me?” Keith asks but the boy must have taken it as an answer because he stood back up and clapped his hands together once before turning around to make Keith’s food. 

 

“Excellent! No one ever trusts me to choose their food!” He laughs and Keith’s eyes widen a bit at that comment. There’s gotta be a reason no one trusts him to make this decisions for them and Keith feels like he’s about to find out why. He really hopes he doesn’t get some weird food experiment this boy’s been waiting to be able to try out.

 

With the boy turned away from him, it’s much easier for Keith to breathe. His thoughts have evolved from the gorgeous boy, to scolding himself for acting  _ like that. _ He’s never had trouble talking to cute boys before, never been interested in anyone. Never even really tried, if he’s being honest with himself.

 

He had an image to uphold, afterall. 

 

An image that went away again as soon as the boy turned around again to address him and ask if he’s allergic to anything. And he’s not, and neither is Matt, but Shiro’s lactose intolerant and he considers mentioning it, but this is technically Shiro’s fault, so he shakes his head no and asks for something with cheese. 

 

“So are you enjoying the beach?” The boy yells at Keith from inside the tiny stand. When he doesn’t reply due to taking to long deciding if he should admit to hating the beach, the boy continues. “It’s such a nice day out! I hope you’re having fun. I seen you and your friends earlier and-” Keith lets out a high pitched squeak because  _ what the fuck. _

 

“You… you seen me?” Keith feels his stomach drop. What if he looked stupid? Oh god, did he see him with his shirt off? What if he seen how bad he is at swimming, what if he- 

 

“Uh, Yeah!” The boy yells back again before walking back to the window. He looks a bit sheepish and it catches Keith off guard. “I hope that’s not weird. I just, ya’know, it gets boring in here sometimes when it’s not busy so I just people watch for a bit. You just happened to catch my eye. I was kinda hoping you’d come up here eventually.” The boy rubs the back of his neck and flashes Keith another smile before going back to making the food. 

 

“Oh… It’s… It’s not weird.” He’s not sure if he spoke loud enough because there’s no reply from the boy after that until about 5 more minutes, when he comes back to the window with three foam take-out boxes of food. 

 

“Here ya go! I hope you guys like it!” The boy beams at him and leans on the counter again. 

 

“Uh, Thanks. So how much?” Keith asks and starts counting the money Shiro gave him. 

 

“On the house!” He says and Keith looks up so quickly he gets dizzy. 

 

“What?” He squeaks out 

 

“Well… you just looked kinda bored earlier, like you didn’t wanna be here. Thought maybe free food would make your day better. Am I right?” He looks so hopeful about it that Keith can’t help but nod.  “Great!” The boy turns around again to start cleaning up the mess he made while cooking the food and Keith panics a bit, not wanting to leave without one least thing- 

 

“Wait! What’s your name?” Keith rushes to ask before he can forget how to speak again. The boy leans backwards a little to look at Keith, smiling that sweet, sweet smile. 

 

“I’ll tell you my name later if you promise to stop by again before you leave.” He winks and disappears once again, leaving Keith a blushing mess. Well…. More of a blushing mess than he was  _ before _ .

  
  


“Holy shit” Keith whispers to himself as he walks back to Matt and Shiro, holding the food close to his chest. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” 

 

“Are you okay?” Shiro asks with a concerned look as he notices Keith’s frustrated expression. 

 

“Cute…” Is all he manages before shoving two of the containers towards his friends and keeping one for himself. 

 

“Uhh… okay?” Shiro looks more confused than concerned now, but he doesn’t mention it anymore until- 

 

“Oh! Oh, man, Keith,  I think I got yours!” Matt says, and Keith is about to argue that it doesn’t matter, they should all be the same thing. But then Matt swaps their boxes and Keith starts choking when he sees the big heart drawn in sauce with “ur cute” in the middle. 

 

“That’s what you meant by ‘cute’!” Shiro exclaimes and Keith slams the lid to the box shut. 

 

He looks over at the stand and his face heats up again when he sees the boy smiling and waving at him from the window. He can’t  _ believe this. _

  
  
  
  


Keith spends the rest of their time at the beach walking along the shore to get away from his friends’ comments about his “new boyfriend” and he doesn’t notice how much time has passed until Shiro runs up to him to tell him they’re leaving. 

 

The boy slips his mind while they’re packing up. It’s not until they’re walking up the walkway to their house when he remembers the boy asking him to stop by before he leaves. Keith gasps and drops one of the bags. He wants to run back to the beach and apologize, but they just spent half an hour walking home while carrying stuff, and his legs are tired and he doesn’t even know if he can make it there in time before the beach closes (under the half hour it usually takes to get there).

 

So he drops the beach bags in the front room for Shiro to take care of, and goes to his room, promising himself to talk to the boy again the next time he goes to the beach. 


	2. See you in an hour?

The next time just _happens_ to be exactly a week later, another saturday he shares off with his friends; Pidge included this time. They’re taking Matt’s car so they don’t have to walk, and Keith thinks he’s gotten off scot-free until Shiro speaks up from the passenger seat right as they’re pulling into the parking lot.

 

“So, Keith,” he starts, and judging by his tone, Keith knows this isn’t going to be good “are you going to help up set up or just go straight to your new boyfriend?” He turns around to smirk at Keith, who hits his head against the headrest and groans.

 

“ _Boyfriend_?!” Pidge whips her head towards Keith with her eyebrows raised.

 

“He’s not my boyfriend! We met once!” He throws his hands in the air and jumps out of the car as soon as it’s put in park, slamming the door behind him which earns a stern “ _don’t hurt my baby_ ” Matt.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me about this? What’s his name? Did you meet at the beach?” Pidge bombards him with questions as she runs around the car to meet him on his side.

 

“I’m not telling you anything.”

 

“He met him last saturday.” Shiro says and Keith hits his armas hard as he can.

 

“It’s one of the guys who works at the food stands.” Matt continues for him and almosts fails to jump out of the way of Keith’s fist.

 

“Oh man, you shoulda heard how much Keith’s been whining about coming back all week.” Shiro picks back up, watching Keith closely to make sure he’s not going to try hitting him again. He doesn’t. He just groans loudly into his hands, face turning almost as red as it was when he first met the boy. Keith can feel the pang of embarassement that hits him at Shiro’s comment.

 

“Wait…” Pidge narrows her eyes at Keith and he groans even louder, this is why he didn’t tell her. “You _hate_ the beach! And people! Who the hell is this person!?” Keith goes to reply but he’s cut off by Shiro, who doesn’t seem to know when to shut up.

 

“He didn’t get his name.” Shiro laughs as he hands a couple of the tote bags full of stuff to Matt.

 

“Oh my god!” Pidge mumbles something about ‘useless gays’ before she joins in with Shiro’s laughing and Keith, deciding he doesn’t have to put up with them, starts walking away from them to go find a spot on the beach to claim theirs.

 

“Here should be fine!” Matt yells as he runs to catch up with him, dropping their stuff in the sand. Keith doesn’t mention that it’s too close to the food stand because he doesn’t want them to be able to see him when he sneaks off to find the boy. He doesn’t want to add even more fuel to the nosy fire that goes by the name Pidge.

 

They spend the next few minutes laying their towels out and setting up the umbrella before racing down to the water. This time, Keith decides, goes better than the last time he went to the beach, now that his friends are done teasing him about his… crush? Can he call it a crush? Infatuation might be better. But now that they’re done talking about that, and he has Pidge here with him to make him feel less like a third wheel and more like part of a group, he actually has fun. He doesn’t remember the last time he actually enjoyed the beach, it’s always been too hot and uncomfortable with him due to the huge crowds of people.

 

But Pidge, despite all her _very rude_ teasing, is actually pretty great at being a good friend and helping Keith feel comfortable. So she focuses on encouraging Keith to have swim races and play a few rounds of chicken to keep his mind distracted from the anxiety. They go back and forth between Keith  & Pidge vs. Matt & Shiro, and Keith & Shiro vs. Matt & Pidge. Eventually, they decide they like the first combo better, because even though Matt & Shiro have a huge height advantage when teamed together, they both suck at the game so Keith & Pidge still win every time.

 

It’s about an hour later when Shiro suggests they take a break and get some food. Keith can feel the excitement grow in his chest and he’s about to volunteer to get it again when Matt cuts him off with:

 

“I packed some stuff this time so we don’t have to spend money on overpriced food again!” Shiro happily thanks him but Keith can’t help but pout. Should he mention that they didn’t technically spend any money last time? Sure, he never told Shiro the boy gave them three free meals just because he thought Keith was cute and wanted to make his day better. But he was planning on using the money Shiro gave him last time to buy food today so it’s not like he was keeping it for himself. Plus, getting the food was the only reason he could think of to go see the boy again. Now what was he supposed to do?

  


Thankfully, it seems as if the universe was on his side _for once_ , because as Matt starts pulling out the food he’s packed- cold cut sandwiches and some fruit- Pidge starts whining.

 

“Matt, oh my god! You _know_ I went vegetarian last month! Do you expect fruit to fill me up?” She flops down on her towel and throws the wrapped sandwich at Matt, hitting him square in the face.

 

“Shit, sorry Pidgey, I’ll… uh…” Matt looks around in the bag again as if more food will appear.

 

“I’ll go get you something!” Keith suggests and grabs the money out of his wallet before turing to go to the food stand, pointedly ignoring the smirk he knows Shiro has.

 

“Are you sure? Want me to come with?” Pidge starts standing up but Keith just shakes his head and continues walking.

 

“No, it’s okay, I know what you like. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He can hear Matt and Shiro snickering to each other and he’s glad they keep it at that. He starts walking faster towards the stand just north of their spot, hoping to any higher being out there that the boy is working today.

 

There’s a line of about half a dozen people at the booth and he patiently waits until it’s his turn, going through millions of ways to apologize for not coming back last time. When the last person ahead of him finally leaves he curses himself for not picking his wording and just decides to wing it, as if that has ever worked in his favor. He opens his mouth to start apologizing when he gets to the window but the words die in his throat as he sees the person behind the counter.

 

It’s not the boy.

 

He can’t help but frown and drop his shoulders when the girl asks him what he wants in her nicest customer service voice. Not as sweet as the boys, but it’s still nice. She has long white hair and her skin is the same gorgeous, warm, shade as the boys and their eyes are the same color as well but it’s still just… Not the same. It’s not as easy to get captivated by the deep blue or the slight crinkle at the edges as she smiles.

 

“Uh… Do you guys have anything for vegetarians?” He asks.

 

“Oh, sure! We actually have a few tofu options right here!” She leans out the window to point to a section of the menu on the wall. There’s a couple different salad varieties along with some veggie burgers and tofu “chicken” strips. He notices one of the burgers has tofu bacon on it, and he knows how much Pidge used to love bacon so he thinks that one might be the best option. The bacon does look a little weird though so maybe-

 

“Can I get this one but with the bacon on the side? I’m not sure how my friend will like the tofu bacon. Also do you have any sriracha?” He knows they do, the boy basically drowned his food in it last time just so he could call Keith cute. All’s forgiven though, Keith likes hot stuff. Maybe that’s why he’s so enamored by the boy?

 

“Yea! Do you want that on the side as well?” She writes down the changes in the order so she doesn’t forget while she’s making it.

 

“No thanks, on the burger is fine.” She nods, smiles again, and disappears behind the wall to get started. Keith lets out a deep breath and leans against the side of the building. Maybe it’s a good thing the boy wasn’t here today. He would probably take forever getting Pidge’s food back to her and then she would not only be grumpy, but she’d tease the living daylight out of him as well.

 

He’s only waiting for about 10 minutes before the girl comes back to the window to give him his food. He stands up from where he sat down in the sand a few minutes ago and gives her the money.

 

“Was that all for today?” She asks and he’s about to say no but then a thought hits him.

 

“Um, actually…” He looks over at his friends to make sure they’re busy doing their own thing and not paying attention to the fact that he’s not coming back although he has the food. “So I was here last week, right? And there was a boy working here, do you possibly know him? He’s kinda skinny, brown hair, blue eyes?” He can feel his face heat up from just talking about the boy and he finds it hard to look at the girl until she lets out a shard gasp before laughing.

 

“Oh my god!” Her eyes are wide and she covers her mouth with her hand as she laughs. “You’re the mullet boy!”

 

“I’m.. I’m _what_?” His embarrassment is gone now, replaced with pure confusion.

 

“I know who you’re talking about. He’s working today, actually.” Keith’s hands fumble with the container and he sets it down on the counter so he doesn’t drop it. “He’s a couple booths down, though. Dunno if walking that far is worth it to you if you couldn’t bother coming back last time.” Her comment is meant to be a light hearted joke, Keith can tell she’s not upset or trying to be mean but it still makes him feel bad. “Hey, now, it’s alright.” She says softer this time after noticing his frown. “He’s not mad or anything, I swear! At least you came back eventually, right?”

 

“Yea…” Keith grabs the food again and turns to walk back to his friends. “Thanks!” He calls back with a wave that she returns.

 

“What’d you get me?” Pidge grabs the container out of Keith’s hands before he can even sit down. “Keith, I said I don’t eat meat!” She cries out when she sees the burger in the box.

 

“It’s tofu, you idiot.”

 

“Oh… Cool! Thanks.” She immediately starts eating and Keith grabs his own food.

 

“So… Was your boyfriend there?” Shiro asks, causing Keith to choke on his sandwich.

 

“No! It was some girl, Leave me alone about that!” The glare Keith gives Shiro must be deadly enough to convince him to stop, because he doesn’t say anything else after that.

 

Keith spends the whole time eating thinking about the boy and when everyone’s done and they decide to separate- Matt & Shiro going back to sit in the sand by the tide, leaving Keith & Pidge by the stuff- He decides it’s as good a time as any to go find the boy. That is, after all, what he wanted to come back for so bad.

 

He tells Pidge that he’s going for a walk while she sunbathes and he expects her to make a comment about finding his “boyfriend”. However, she just waves her hand and tells him to bring his phone incase he gets lost.

 

“‘Don’t get lost’ she says.”  Keith scoffs as he’s walking further and further away from her, kicking up the sand. “I won’t get lost. Who does she think I am.” He continues walking for a while, not really paying attention to anything as he mumbles to himself.

 

It’s only when he hears someone start shouting at him, that he even realizes he’s actually passed the booth the girl said the boy was working at. _Wow_ \- Keith thinks- _I should really start getting people's’ names right away._

 

“Hey!!” Keith turns around and notices him (the boy, _Thee Boy_!) Leaning as far out of the window of the booth as he could without falling out, waving his hands before cupping them around his mouth to yell at Keith. “Heeeyyy!!! Come back!” He gives another dramatic wave and waits until Keith starts walking towards him before getting back behind the counter, properly.

 

Keith tries to talk his nerves down, but now that he knows he’s about to talk to the boy again his can’t calm down. He can feel his own pulse in his fingertips and he shoves his hands in his pockets to hide how much he’s shaking as he finally comes up the the window. He’s glad there’s no one waiting for food due to being at the far end of the beach away from a majority of the crowds. He makes a mental note to suggest setting up their stuff down here the next time they come to the beach so they don’t have to deal with all the people.

 

He then makes a mental note to never suggest that because suggesting that would mean admitting to planning on coming back to the beach. And he _hates_ the beach.

 

Well… He _hated_ the beach. But he’s already having trouble dealing with his friends’ teasing.

 

“Hey!” The boy smiles at Keith, leaning his elbows on the counter with his chin in his palms like the last time. Keith lets out a shaky _Hi_ and they just stare at each other for a few beats until the boy speaks up again.

 

“Sooo, you didn’t stop by again last week.” His tone isn’t upset, more playful, and Keith is relieved he didn’t manage to ruin this like he thought he did.

 

“I’m sorry.” He begins quietly. “I got distracted and then my friends wanted to leave and I forgot to come tell you and I didn’t remember until I got home and I wasn’t sure if I could make it back before the beach closed and I-” The boy starts laughing and it shakes Keith to the core, pulling him out of his rambling.

 

“Well I’m flattered you still considered coming back the same day even after you got home. It probably would have been too much trouble, anyways.” Keith nods but he doesn’t actually agree. It wouldn’t have been too much trouble at all.

 

“Um.. So, can I have your name now?” Keith brings one of his hands out of its hiding spot to rub at the back of his neck. He wants to look away from the boys face, doesn’t want to seem weird if he just stares at him the whole time, but he can’t. He’s waited a whole week to see those crystal blue eyes and his mind won’t let him go a second without drinking the color in. He’s not sure when he’ll be able to come back to the beach and damn him if he doesn’t want to savor every moment of this.

 

The boy laughs again and shakes his head. “Nope, but I _will_ give you a second chance to earn it.”  Keith wants to be disappointed, but with the boy laughing like that, and the possibility of knowing his name close to his grasp, he’d do anything.

 

“Sure, yea, of course.” Keith rushes out and eagerly leans a little closer to the counter.  

 

“Hmmm… so since you seem to forget things easily, I’ll come find you later instead. That way I know I’ll be able to see you again.” He smirks at Keith and extends one of his arms out so he can gently place his hand on Keith’s bright red cheek. “I get off in an hour. You’ll still be here, right?” His voice is so soft it makes Keith’s pulse jump.

 

Keith opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out so he just nods, eyes wide and now unable to shut his mouth. The boy’s palm is surprisingly cold against Keith’s cheek, and he’s unsure if it’s because the small building has air conditioning (Not likely, the boy is still sweating from the heat) or if it’s because Keith’s skin is just going wild and sending all the heat in his body to his face and anything that touches him would feel cold. (Very likely, Keith feels like his face is about to melt.)

 

“Cool!” The boy pulls his hand back, still smirking and obviously pleased with Keith’s reaction. “I’m assuming you’re further down the beach?”

 

“Uh..” Keith coughs and takes a couple seconds to clear his head. “Uh, yeah. I’m, um, a couple booths down.

 

“Okay, well I’ll see you in an hour!” The boy winks at him before leaving the window and, sadly, Keith’s view. He stands there for a few seconds in silence before taking a deep breath… then another, and starts walking back to his friends.

 

He really, really hopes they’re not going to want to leave any time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this chapter 3 times but i finally think i like how it is?  
> Lemme know what you think<333


	3. Let's Go For A Walk.

Keith walks as fast as he can to get back to his friends without jogging. He knows they’re going to tease him for this, but he can’t help his excitement and he at least wants to get it out of his system before The Boy comes to find him. Holy shit!! He can’t believe the boy is going to come find him! An hour seems too far away for Keith, but if he waited a whole week, he knows he can wait an hour. All he needs to do is convince his friends to stay that long.

 

“Keith!” Pidge yells as soon as she sees him speed-walking towards their spot. “Where’ve you been!?” She stands up and Keith can see the dark red spot across her face.

 

“Did you fall asleep in the sun, again?” He asks instead of answering her own question.

 

“Shut up! It’s not like I mean to do it! And I actually used sunscreen this time, I don’t know how this keeps happening.” She sighs and gently touches her cheek, wincing before pulling her hand away.

 

“Maybe instead of sunscreen you should try an entire face mask. I think Shiro still has his Scream Mask from last halloween.” She glares at him and he just ruffles her hair and laughs.

 

“I said shut up!” Pidge huffs and smacks his hand. “Anyways, where’d you go? You’ve been gone for like 40 minutes. Did you get lost?”

 

“Uhh… I actually, um… ran into that boy Matt and Shiro told you about. He um, actually wants to hang out with me later.” Keith scrunches his nose, waiting for her teasing to start.

 

“Holy shit.” Pidge says quietly. Then louder- “Holy shit! Dude, I have to tell Shiro about this!” She instantly takes off running towards the water where Matt and Shiro are calmly floating on their backs.

 

“Shiro!” Pidge yells out to them once her feet hit the tide. Shiro gets startled when he hears her shout his name and jumps, accidentally hitting Matt in the face as he sinks under the water for a quick second.

 

“Pidge, stop, just let them swim.” Keith grabs her hands and pulls them away from where she has them cupped around her mouth as she yells. It’s too late, though, because Matt and Shiro are already making their way to shore. Keith gorans and walks back to their stuff. He’s at least not going to do with near all the other people in the water that are already paying attention to them due to Pidge’s yelling.

 

He sits on his towel and watches as Matt and Shiro finally get to Pidge. He watches her talk to them for a few seconds, point over to Keith, and then they all start running over to him.

 

“Did you guys kiss!?” Matt asks as he reaches Keith, who’s sitting with his knees drawn up to his face to hide his burning cheeks.

 

“Pidge said you were gone for a while, did you do _more_ than kiss?” Shiro raises an eyebrow and smirks down at him.

 

“Oh my god, you guys are horrible. _No_ , we didn’t kiss, geez.” Keith buries his face deeper into his knees. He’s surprisingly never even thought about kissing the boy, but now, oh man, now he doesn’t think he’ll be able to stop. He was supposed to be spending this hour calming down! _Fuck_.  

 

“So you guys just talked? Did you get his name?” Shiro sits down on his own towel next to Keith, pulling Matt until he sits down as well.

 

“Uhh… No, not exactly. He said he’ll find me when he gets off in an hour and tell me then.” Keith finally raises his face a bit to glance at his friends. Shiro’s giving him an incredulous look, while Matt and Pidge just look amused as hell, trying to hold their laughter back.

 

“How is it this hard for you to get just a _name_?” Shiro groans and throws his hands up in the air.

 

“Oh, c’mon, Shiro.” Pidge sits down and rubs Keith’s back. “It’s his first crush, he’s trying his best.” Keith scowls at her and pushes her away from him.

 

“I shouldn’t have told you anything. You’re the worst friends ever.”

 

“Hey! We just wanna know how it’s going with your boyfriend!” Matt says and Keith’s about to tell him that he’s _not Keith’s boyfriend,_ when someone speaks up from behind him.

 

“You have a boyfriend?” Keith’s eyes go wide and he slowly turns around to face ( _fuckfuckFUCK_ ) The Boy. He’s standing with his arms crossed over his chest and he’s smiling but it looks too forced. Those cute little crinkles that he usually has at the ends of his eyes aren’t there.

 

“I.. uh… I thought you don’t get off for another…” Keith checks the time on his phone, “half an hour?”

 

“They let me leave early. No one’s on that end of the beach, anyways.” The boy shrugs.

 

“Wait,” Pidge, Matt and Shiro all say at the same time as they glance between Keith and the boy.

 

“Hey, let’s go for a walk!” Keith jumps up and grabs the boys wrist, dragging him away from his friends. He absolutely _does not_ want them saying anything to him. He can hear them start laughing loudly and he walks faster, causing the boy to trip as he tries to match Keith’s pace.

 

“Woah, hold on!” The boy laughs and Keith’s stops, dropping his wrist and turning to face him again. “Look, I’m sorry about, y'know, flirting and stuff. I didn’t know you were already dating someone.” He’s staring at the ground and he’s not even trying to keep his smile up anymore.

 

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” Keith says quietly.

 

“Oh.” The boy breathes out. “Okay, that’s uh, that’s cool. Yup, cool. Nice. So, uh, walk?” He lets out a small, nervous laugh and starts walking ahead of Keith this time. It’s still weird for Keith to see this boy act all anxious. This is only the second time it’s happened and it catches him off guard as much as it did the first time. He seems so confident and collected the other 98% of the time and Keith finds that he really wants to know what makes this boy worked up. He doesn’t want to be the only one that’s a mess, here.

 

“So are you-”

 

“Can I- Oh, sorry, go ahead!” Keith makes a motion with his hand for the boy to continue talking.

 

He clears his throat and slows down to walk in step with Keith. “So are you having fun at the beach this time?”

 

“Well, I don’t really like the beach? But it’s uh, alright, I guess?” Keith shrugs.

 

“Woah, woah woah!” The boy gasps, making Keith look up at his face. He’s just staring at Keith like he’s just said the most unbelievable thing he’s ever heard. “Who doesn’t like the beach? It’s so beautiful! I mean just look at the water! And the way the sand feels between your toes! And just the happy vibes all around! How do you not like the beach?”

 

“I just, I’m not too fond of crowds and I’m not the best swimmer. Plus the sand gets in way more places than just between your toes and it’s annoying as hell.” Keith whines and then, perhaps because he doesn’t want to disappoint this boy, or maybe because he’s just dumb, he smiles at the boy and adds-

 

“I’m starting to think it might be better than I originally thought, though.”

 

“Oh?” The boy smirks and Keith’s eyes automatically get drawn to his lips. Curse Matt and his stupid comments about stupid kissing and curse this stupid boy for having such stupid, _soft looking_ , lips. “And why’s that?”

 

“Um… I feel like you shouldn’t even have to ask me that.” Keith tears his gaze away and towards the ground in front of him as they walk

 

“Yea, I know. But you’re cute when you get all red. Plus I kinda just really wanna hear you say it.” The boy laughs. Keith thinks he might die by the end of this walk.

 

Keith doesn’t reply after that. They walk in silence for a little while before coming to the end of the beach the boy was working at, then just keep walking. Eventually they come to the very edge of the beach, where the sand has turned to large rocks. The boy immediately starts climbing up the pile of boulders, reaching his hand down for Keith to grab as he climbs up after him. Keith can’t help but notice that even after they’re both sitting down at the top, neither of them let go of the other.

He’s never held hands before. Not counting holding his parents hands in the grocery store when he was younger. It’s nice. Really, really nice. The way the boy’s thumb is rubbing the back of Keith’s hand has his heart racing. His touch is incredibly gentle, like he thinks even the smallest amount of pressure will hurt Keith. Every now and then, they’ll both sneak glances at each other, smiling and giggling quietly when they look at the same time. This entire thing feels so surreal to Keith. He’s never experienced anything like this with anyone before.

Never experienced this kind of interest in someone. Or this kind of attention. He used to think that if he were to like someone, it’d be someone who was rough and intense like himself. But this boy…

This boy, despite his outgoing flirting when they first met, despite his loud laughter and dramatic behaviour… this boy is so… _soft_ . Keith can’t think of any other word to describe him. Everything about him; his hands, lips, hair, eyes, touch, _everything_ , is just so soft and it makes Keith feel like there’s been some sort of mistake. Like this boy isn’t meant to be his.

  
_But, God, does Keith want him to be_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall have no idea how hard it is to stop myself from writing "Lance" instead of "The Boy" why did i do this to myself


	4. Lance, Lance, Lance

They sit together in silence for a while, watching the waves roll up on the shore. They’ve since stopped trying to hide their sneaky glances and instead have begun full on looking at each other every now and then. Eyes roaming over one anothers features, noses scrunched up as they try not to laugh. Neither boy can believe they’re here with the other. Keith can’t believe this boy seems interested enough in him that he would spend this much time with him, just sitting and doing nothing.

 

After a good amount of time has passed, Keith feels his phone vibrate and he groans, wishing he had “just happened” to forget it with the rest of his stuff with his friends. He uses his left hand to fish it out of his pocket, not wanting to take his dominate right hand out of the boy’s. There’s a couple texts from Pidge asking if he’s okay and when he’s coming back and, after he attempts and fails to text a reply with his one hand, he just calls her.

 

“Hey, it’s been like, an hour!” Pidge says as soon as she answers after the first ring.

 

“Oh, sorry. We walked all the way to the end of the beach.” Keith can feel the boy’s thumb start rubbing against his again, and he can’t help the giddy feeling that rises in his chest.

 

“You don’t gotta apologize. We were just- oh hold on” Keith can hear muffled voices on the other end before she comes back. “Shiro wants to know if you want us to pick you up over there? We were thinking about going home so we can start making dinner.”

 

Keith’s smile drops from his face at the thought of leaving. The boy must have noticed because he nudges him with his shoulder and gives him a worried look and mouths “you okay?” when Keith looks at him. He doesn’t look away from the boy’s face as he answers Pidge.

 

“I, uh, I actually think I’m gonna stay a little longer. I can walk home later.” The boy’s face lights up and Keith smiles again.

 

“Oh! Okay, well just be safe.” There’s more muffled voices and then- “Shiro said to text when you’re on your way back so we know you’re still alive.”

 

“Yea, yea. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” The boy scoots closer and leans his head on Keith’s shoulder. Keith can’t help but think that, not even an hour ago, he would have been a burning mess at the action. But now, he’s just comfortable. It feels so natural, like he’s had this boy next to him, sitting so close and holding onto each other, for years.

 

“ _Just_ fine? Y’know, the beach isn’t exactly the best spot to-”

 

“Okay! Bye!” Keith hangs up on her before she can finish and he shoves his phone back in his pocket after turning it on silent.

 

“Everything okay?” The boy whispers after Keith’s calmed down a bit. His voice is (surprise, surprise) Soft. He nods and squeezes the boys hand.

 

“I…I hope you were okay with staying a little longer. Sorry I kinda decided that.” The boy sits up again and Keith panics, thinking maybe he really should have asked first.

 

“Of course it’s okay. I like just sitting here with you.”

 

“You do?” Keith doesn’t mean to sound so shocked. The boy laughs and nods.

 

“I really,” The boy leans a little closer again, but this time he kisses Keith’s cheek, not moving his face away afterwards, “ _really_ do.”

 

Keith takes a sharp inhale of air, shakily letting it out. He’s back to being a huge mess as the boy continues to give tiny kisses to his cheek that are so light Keith thinks that if he couldn’t see him out of the corner of his eye, he wouldn’t have known he was doing it.

 

“I uh,” He clears his throat, begging himself to _please, please_ , not lose the ability to speak, “You still never told me your name.”  The boy hums and gives another quick kiss, a little bit closer to his mouth.Just the _tiniest_ bit, but Keith can still tell and it’s making him wild.  

 

“You never told me yours, either.”

 

“Keith! It’s… it’s Keith...My name...” The boy huffs out a laugh against his cheek and it drives him so far up the wall that his ears are ringing and he almost misses it when the boy replies.

 

“Lance. My name’s Lance.” Keith can feel him smiling against his cheek. He can feel _Lance_ smiling against his cheek. He can feel _Lance_ smiling. He can feel…

 

“Lance.” Keith breaths out to himself. He feels kind of stupid for having such an awed reaction to finding out a _name_ , but it’s _Lance’s name_ and he’s been waiting a _whole week_ for it.

 

“Keith.” Lance breaths out back, still against his cheek. Still a little bit, just a little bit, closer to his mouth. He gives another kiss, whispers his name again, and gives another. Keith can feel his hand that _Lance_ is holding getting sweaty from nerves. He squeezes Lance’s hand and wills every ounce of courage he has in his body to come together and stop freaking out because a cute boy ( _Lance_ ) is kissing his cheek.

 

“Lance.” Keith whispers and he turns his head, giving Lance a kiss back on his cheek. He’s never kissed anyone before. Never _wanted_ to kiss anyone before. But now he really wishes he had _at leas_ t acted like a normal teenager and practiced with his pillow at least once in his life. Because now he really wants to kiss this boy, wants to kiss _Lance_ , but he’s scared he’s going to make a damn fool of himself.

“Are you okay?” Lance asks quietly against his cheek, gives him another kiss, and gently rubs his nose where he had just kissed him.. And, fuck, he definitely is Not but at the same time he’s more than okay and he just, really, really, so fucking badly, wants to kiss Lance. Keith takes a slow breath and nods.

 

“If it’s too much just tell me, okay?” He rests his lips on Keith’s cheek but doesn’t move them. Keith nods. He can feel Lance smiling against his skin again and just the thought of him being happy to _Kiss Keith_ makes some of his nerves disappear. He takes another breath and relaxes, shoulders feeling considerably less tense now.

 

This is apparently what Lance had been waiting for, visible proof of Keith being relaxed and comfortable, before he starts kissing his cheek again, getting closer and closer each time.

 

It takes exactly 6 kisses for Lance to reach the corner of Keith’s lips, because of course Keith was counting. He’s far less nervous, that feeling has been taken over by the excitement of _finally_ being able to kiss Lance. But just as soon as Keith thinks he’s about to kiss him, Lance moves quickly and kisses his other cheek, laughing when Keith gasps at the utter betrayal.

 

“Sorry.” Lance says as he kisses this side now. He doesn’t sound sorry at all. “Were you waiting for something?” Keith groans at the joking tone. He’s giddy and impatient and Lance knows he’s being such a little shit right now.

 

“You’re taking too long.” Keith says. He takes his hand out of Lance’s and cups his face, turning it so Keith can kiss him properly.

 

It’s not much of a kiss at first. They’re both just pressed together, smiling too much and trying so hard to keep their mouths closed. Then Lance brings his hand up and places it on the back of Keith’s neck and he slowly moves his mouth until they’re actually kissing.

 

They’re actually ki-!

 

 _Holy shit_ , Keith thinks, _Holy shit, I’m kissing Lance. I’m Kissing Lance!_

  
  


But then Keith remembers you actually need to breathe to live, so he reluctantly pulls away and leans his forehead against Lance’s. “Holy shit.” He says out loud this time.

 

“Yea, Holy shit.” Lance still has his eyes closed and he’s grinning so wide Keith would think it’s hurting his cheeks. He doesn’t have to think, though, because he’s smiling just as wide, so he _knows_ it hurts. But neither of them can stop.

 

They stay like that for a few minutes before Lance kisses Keith’s forehead and leans back a little to look at him. He’s still smiling but it’s his nervous face from before. ( _Three times_ , Keith thinks)

 

“Can I…” Lance looks a tad worried but he takes a deep breath before pushing on. “Can I take you on a date?”

 

Keith’s eyes go wide and he can’t tell if he’s breathing anymore. He just nods slowly, too awed to speak. He? He wants to _Date_ him? _Lance_ wants to take _Keith_ on a real date?

 

Lance whispers a “hell yea” before pulling Keith back in for another kiss. And another. And maybe like 4 more, but who’s actually counting? (Keith.) (And Lance, honestly.)

 

They sit there for another hour or so, pressed up against each other with Lance’s head resting on Keith’s shoulder, until he gets another text from Shiro asking if he’s okay. He decides maybe he should start walking home, as much as he doesn’t want to. Lance helps him climb down from the rocks and walks him home, holding hands and stealing quick kisses at every stop light.

 

Keith can see his friends trying to be discreet as they watch from one of the upstairs windows but he doesn’t care. They’d get him to talk about everything, anyways.

 

“Here,” Lance says as he pulls out his phone. “Gimme your number so I can I’ll text you and make plans for the date.” He types his number in and hands the phone back, watching as Lance saves his contact as “Keith<3”.

 

“I had-” Keith starts but there’s a loud bang from the window and as soon as they both look up, Matt and Shiro duck down, leaving Pidge alone, smiling innocently as she waves at them. “Ugh. I had a really good time. Sorry my friends are idiots.”

 

“It’s okay. I did too.” Lance kisses his cheek and then smirks as he adds “Does this mean you like the beach now?”

 

Keith laughs, kisses Lance on the mouth, and then opens his front door to go inside.

 

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UGH I'm kinda attached to this and i wanna write more for it but i feel like anything else would be overkill. 
> 
> I hope you guys liked it! <333

**Author's Note:**

> hoooo boy i need to try Finishing things before i start new ones????? I horrible LOL


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